⚡️ Punchbowl News Special Edition: BREAKING: Zelensky expected to visit Capitol Wednesday

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Breaking news: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit the Capitol Wednesday, nine sources familiar with the visit told us.

The trip could still be called off for security concerns. The planning has been tightly held and the visit hasn’t been fully confirmed at this time.

If Zelensky makes the journey, it will mark his first trip to Washington since the brutal Russian invasion began Feb. 24 — exactly 300 days ago. It would also be Zelensky’s first time leaving Ukraine since Russia’s renewed aggression began.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged lawmakers in a letter Tuesday to come to Washington for “a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.” Zelensky could address a joint session of Congress in the House chamber Wednesday night, multiple sources told us.

The historic trip also comes as Congress is on the brink of approving another $45 billion in economic and military aid to Kyiv in the year-end omnibus funding bill. U.S. spending on the conflict will soar to more than $100 billion once this emergency aid is passed.

Zelensky is expected to meet with congressional leadership and national-security committee chiefs from both parties, according to two people familiar with the visit.

Zelensky’s potential visit marks a significant moment in Washington. Some Republicans are wary of continuing to back Ukraine’s resistance, both through military aid as well as the biting sanctions regime imposed on Russia.

House Republicans are expected to vote en masse against the omnibus bill, which contains the Ukraine aid. It will be interesting to see whether the Zelensky visit sways the GOP skeptics, who have grown their ranks in recent weeks as former President Donald Trump and other influential conservatives rail against new money for Ukraine.

Earlier today, Zelensky was in Bakhmut, a city in Ukraine’s east that came under heavy Russian artillery attacks.

— Jake Sherman, Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio